Turning a new leaf

Guwahati, Nov. 22: Faced with competition from regional players, Tata Tea Limited (TTL) has initiated an exercise to relaunch all its brands so as to increase its market share by at least 3 percent in the packet tea segment.

The company today relaunched its flagship Tata Tea Premium brand, which was first launched in 1987.

Tata Tea currently enjoys a 17.2 per cent market share of the packet tea segment. Tata Tea Premium alone controls 6.7 per cent market share in its category of teas. The company has also come up with a new promotional campaign for its Tata Tea Premium brand.

Addressing a press conference, general manager marketing Pankaj Dant said, “Emergence of local players in the packet tea market has resulted in a significant value loss for big packet tea manufacturers. It has also resulted in fragmentation of the market, as there are at least 300 local players.”

TTL has worked out a marketing strategy to tide over this problem. “We are placing renewed emphasis on quality upgradation to deliver an even better cup of tea and improve our packaging,” Dant said.

The company’s research and development facilities at Assam and Kerala have undertaken extensive research programmes that focus on agronomy, botany, plant nutrition, tissue culture and biotechnology, irrigation and water management and others. The company has also developed six clones at its R&D facilities.

Dant said the company is already exporting tea under the Tata Tea Premium brand name in West Asia. “We are currently exploring export opportunities to other countries also,” he added.

The company is also exploring to sell teas in other forms like ready-to-drink and tea bags. It also plans to sell organic tea.

The company initiated its relaunch programme a few months ago with its Kanan Devan brand that is popular throughout south India. The company sells seven million kgs of tea under the Kanan Devan brand.

Apart from Kanan Devan and Tata Tea Premium, the company has five more brands within its fold—Agni, Gemini, Chakra Gold, Tetley and Agni Sholay.

With 55 tea estates in the country and an area of 26,500 hectares under cultivation, Tata Tea produces over 60 million kgs of tea. The company has 11 packaging units all over the country. It also produces instant tea for the export markets.